


Poisonous Presumption

by Shi_Toyu



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: And it's all the Avengers's fault, Assassination Attempt(s), Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Davies's life is a living hell, Fluff, Hospitalization, Humor, Hurt Tony Stark, Hydra (Marvel), Hydra Agents Give Good Advice, Inappropriate Humor, M/M, Medical Malpractice, Missions Gone Wrong, POV Hydra Agent, Poison, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Self-Sacrificing Tony Stark, Third Party POV of Relationship, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, hand-wavy science, not as dark as it sounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:47:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28441890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shi_Toyu/pseuds/Shi_Toyu
Summary: This was the worst assignment Davies has ever been given.Sure, it sounded easy upfront – infiltrate the Avengers medical staff and use his access to find weaknesses and sabotage medical treatments – however, it was proving to be anything but. Davies did have medical training and experience, which was part of why Hydra had picked him for this assignment, but the task itself was… complicated.When Tony Stark winds up in Avengers medical, an undercover Hydra agent sees the opportunity of a lifetime. It should be easy to tip the balance and send Iron Man into the waiting jaws of death... sowhy won't he die?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 85
Kudos: 602
Collections: IronSoldier, PolyAvengers, Shady MCU/Marvel Faves





	Poisonous Presumption

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Juulna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juulna/gifts).



> Thanks so much to Juulna for waiting patiently for this fic to be completed. I think I spent half of 2020 not writing a work. But at least I got it done before next year! I hope you enjoy your prize, dear!
> 
> Also, shout out to my beta on this one, Winterironinanotherworld, from the Stuckony server on Discord! Thanks so much!

This was the worst assignment Davies has ever been given. 

Sure, it _sounded_ easy upfront – infiltrate the Avengers medical staff and use his access to find weaknesses and sabotage medical treatments – however, it was proving to be anything but. Davies did have medical training and experience, which was part of why Hydra had picked him for this assignment, but the task itself was… complicated. 

For one thing, it seemed as if none of the Avengers felt the need to report to medical, even when they were hurt. Davies thought that at least Captain America would adhere to protocol – instead, the Captain ‘soldiered on’ and didn’t let little things like severe injuries get in the way of his other duties.

That was fine, Davies had thought at first. At least he would still have access to their medical files, right?

Wrong.

Apparently Stark was paranoid to the point that he restricted any and all access to the Avengers’ medical files to only Dr. Cho unless the Avenger in question was amid a medical need. (There were rumors, too, that Stark changed information within the medical files, though no one seemed to agree on whether that was due to his paranoia or just mucking around.) The long of the short of it was, Davies wasn’t getting any information that way.

He was a Hydra agent, though, and that meant understanding the need to blend in and operate under the radar for an indeterminate amount of time. He settled into his ‘life’ on the medical staff, made friends that were just close enough to claim they knew him, but still kept at arm’s length so that they wouldn’t pry too deeply into his past.

He kept his head down and his eye out for any opportunities that might come his way. And he waited.

It was nearly a full year before he actually met all of the Avengers. 

Banner came through most often – usually to talk to Dr. Cho about some aspect of biology or another. There was some gossip among the nurses that they were an item, or at least that they were heading in that direction. Davies wasn’t so sure. Dr. Cho seemed to have more of an appreciation for Thor. He’d also heard rumors that Banner was seeing someone already but keeping it a secret. He kept an ear out for any gossip on the topic. Hydra would be able to do a great deal with that kind of leverage.

The agents Barton and Romanov came through periodically. Barton seemed to injure himself more than anyone else on the team and Romanov showed no remorse in hauling him in to get treated. Whether she couldn’t manage this with the other team members or just didn’t care to was unclear. Regardless, the two spies were semi-regular faces. Romanov had a tendency to plunder medical’s supply of tranquilizers. It was an open secret that they all turned a blind eye to, since no one was able to stop her, much less willing to confront her about why she needed them.

Thor was rarely ever in medical. He beamed back and forth between Earth and Asgard on a whim, and no one was ever really sure where he was at any given time. He was loud and brash in battle, almost the perfect target, but his aesir heritage also made him nearly indestructible. He took hits that would have left anyone else a smear on the pavement and got back up laughing. It was frustrating, but ultimately Davies figured a demi-god would be harder to kill than the others anyway. It was probably just as well that he didn’t blow his cover on an attempt almost certain to fail.

Wilson was the one that seemed the most human, sometimes popping in to surprise the staff with treats – though he always made clear that they were really from Stark and the billionaire was just trying to cover it up. He flirted shamelessly with the female nurses and made friends with the male nurses to ensure no hard feelings about the former. If Davies wasn’t actively looking for a chance to off the guy, he might actually like him. He had to be at least somewhat competent in the field, since he almost never showed up injured and came in without a fuss when he was.

Rogers showed up whenever a teammate was injured, of course. It was almost sickening to see how much he cared for them all. He would bring paperwork and reports down with him so he could work from their bedside if it was an extended stay and would always give a disapproving look and lecture about them not getting hurt again. He was every inch the legendary man that people said he was – which only made Davies hate him more. Rogers cared about his team more than anything, but there were two teammates that he undeniably cared about the most.

Neither Stark nor Barnes spent much time in medical, even when they were injured. 

For Stark, it was a matter of restlessness and driving the medical staff mad with his attempts to escape and get back to his workshop - the worst of which could be avoided by allowing him to work from his sickbed. 

With Barnes, though… he would only ever stay in medical for however long he was unconscious. It didn’t matter how severely he was injured; if he was conscious, he was leaving. Not even his lovers could get him to stick around for treatment.

It would have been great if Rogers doing the nasty with both Barnes _and_ Stark was some sort of secret that Davies could bring back to Hydra for them to exploit, but it seemed as if the trio had no shame at all. They all but _flaunted_ their relationship in the media, never shying away from the cameras when they were out on a date and exchanging kisses and holding hands in the field after wrapping up a mission. They were utterly besotted with each other. It made Davies want to gag.

Not because he had anything against gay people; it was more of the goody-two-shoes thing that got to him. Barnes belonged under Hydra’s heel, Rogers deserved to pay for the damage he’d done to Hydra’s cause, and Stark… Well, Stark was a threat _and_ an annoyance. It didn’t help that his pet project of eliminating black-market weapons made acquiring new gear for Hydra’s agents all the more difficult. (Not that it was Davies’s job to deal with that sort of thing.)

The fact that they were all _together_ and _happy_ … Yeah, of course Davies didn’t like it.

He’d considered trying to sabotage their relationship somehow but couldn’t really figure out a good way to go about it. He didn’t have enough access to pull that sort of thing off.

To the Avengers, he was just another face in the hall. He doubted even Wilson knew his name – which was just the way he wanted it. He needed to be forgettable in order to blend in and have the freedom to operate behind the scenes. It wasn’t likely that he’d gain their trust or form a friendship – even a fake one – with any of them. Besides, Stark was sure to fuck up any relationship on his own eventually.

So, Davies waited. 

And he watched. 

And finally, _finally_ , his patience was rewarded.

.

It was Stark, of course, who finally gave him the opportunity he’d been waiting for. If there was anything he liked more than being a thorn in Hydra’s side, it was being needlessly self-sacrificing. 

Davies wasn’t really clear on the details, but something had happened involving a biological weapon and Stark compromising the integrity of the Iron Man armor in order to cannibalize the parts. He’d saved the day – because of _course_ he had, the smug bastard – but he’d been exposed to the weapon. By the time the team had gotten him to medical, he was unconscious and blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth as well as his nose.

In all the confusion and (organized) chaos, it was a simple thing for Davies to swap out the syringe meant for Stark’s IV bag with one contaminated with Polonium-210 – feeling rather vindicated for having carried it around ‘just in case’ for the better part of eight months now as he did so.

Dr. Cho was brilliant, and Davies had no doubts that she would be able to save Stark’s worthless life under normal circumstances – better to take any chance out of the equation. After all, Stark had just been exposed to a biological weapon. No one would think it strange if his autopsy showed the effects of radiation. They would just write it off as an element of the weapon.

Except there was no autopsy. 

Because Stark didn’t die.

Davies didn’t know _why_ he didn’t die. It certainly didn’t make any sense. Polonium-210 had a 100% fatality rate. It was lethal even in the smallest of doses and Davies hadn’t exactly been skimping when he’d contaminated the syringe.

But Stark had always had a nasty habit of surviving impossible situations, whether it was being tortured by terrorists in the middle of the Afghani desert, being defenestrated by a Norse god, or any of his numerous and ill-advised engineering experiments.

The how didn’t really matter.

Davies would just have to try again. 

.

Stark was still in medical, having pulled through the initial few hours of his exposure. He was stable, though unconscious, and resting in one of the Avengers suites on the floor.

The rooms themselves were far more lavish than those of any hospital, with all the bells and whistles and then some. If Davies really were just a medical professional, and not primarily employed by Hydra, he’d probably be thrilled to work in such an environment. But he _was_ employed by Hydra and the luxurious, excessive accommodations only inspired bitterness in him. It was just one more way for Stark and the Avengers to show off how important they thought themselves to be. 

After doing some finagling to get himself assigned as Stark’s nurse, Davies headed to the occupied suite to get a better idea of the details of the situation. All he needed was to find that one little piece of the puzzle that he could tip over to send Stark plunging into the jaws of death – permanently removing him as a nuisance.

He was unsurprised to open the suite’s door after a light knock to find Captain America and the Winter Soldier waiting on the other side, both still in full uniform and covered in dirt and sweat. They clearly hadn’t so much as taken the time to shower and change before rushing to their lover’s bedside.

They were both tense as bowstrings, and Davies wanted to chuckle at the way they relaxed a fraction at the sight of his scrubs and at least somewhat familiar face. They sat on either side of Stark’s bed, chairs pulled up close and each holding onto one limp hand while giving each other sad cow eyes. 

Ugh.

“I’m just here to check everything,” Davies lied in a tone kept carefully pleasant. “Don’t let me disturb you. Since there are still so many unanswered questions about the weapon he encountered, Mr. Stark will need to be closely monitored.”

“It’s doctor,” Barnes snapped darkly, throwing a token glare in Davies’s direction before focusing back on Stark. 

Davies’s brow furrowed, confused as he tried to find context for Barnes’s sudden, aggressive statement.

“What? No, Dr. Cho won’t be by for a while yet. She’s overseeing the tests and checking through the results personally. I’m just a nurse.”

Rogers gave a sheepish, apologetic grin.

“Tony’s got a few doctorates under his belt,” he explained in that gentle, understanding tone of his that so grated on Davies’s nerves. “We know the media tends to call him ‘Mr.’ Stark, but…” He shrugged haplessly. “Bucky could have gone about asking in a nicer way, but we’d appreciate it if you would use his proper title.”

Barnes looked across the bed at Rogers as if to send a glare his way, too, but couldn’t seem to muster one up and instead looked away again.

“It’s basic respect,” he bit out.

Oh, for the love of-

“Right,” Davies said, doing his level best to keep from rolling his eyes and letting his exasperation show. “Sorry. _Dr._ Stark. I’m here to check on his vitals and refresh his medications.”

Barnes sullenly hunkered down, but Rogers stood from his chair and moved aside to allow Davies access to the patient. With a token smile of thanks thrown Rogers’s way, Davies moved closer and began checking Stark’s vitals. It wasn’t long before he was frowning.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” Rogers asked, his genial tone turning demanding the moment he wanted something. Figured.

“No, actually,” Davies said, continuing to frown down at the Starkpad recording all of Stark’s data. “He’s doing better than he should be…”

He was doing _remarkably_ well, even – leaps and bounds better than the near-dead state he _should_ have been in, barely clinging to life so that all Davies needed to do was snip the last remaining threads.

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Rogers asked, relief seeping into his voice though it was still underscored with worry.

Davies barely heard him, too busy trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

“It would be,” he replied absentmindedly, “except there’s no way he should be recovering on this kind of timeline. Something has to be wrong with the equipment. Let me get some new machines in here.”

It was the only explanation.

Stark’s stats read like he was days or more into his recovery, not only a handful of hours. Davies changed out the equipment he was hooked up to methodically, ignoring Barnes and Rogers’s anxious hovering as best he could.

He needed _proper_ data if he was going to sabotage Stark effectively – though faulty equipment wouldn’t be a bad way to cover it up when he did… Maybe he could swap some of the bad ones back in so no one would notice Stark’s decline until it was too late…

Except the new equipment recorded the same data as the last set.

Davies frowned at it harder.

“I’m going to have to talk to Dr. Cho about this,” he informed the clearly on-edge super soldiers. “Maybe there was something odd about the weapon he was exposed to. She’ll be able to compare this data against the other tests. Excuse me.”

He cursed inwardly as he left the room.

Well, at least that would explain why the contaminated syringe didn’t do the job. This definitely changed things.

Davies would have to be much more diligent in his next attempt.

.

Dr. Cho was as mystified as Davies was by Stark’s accelerated healing. She frowned down at the data being displayed on her screen. 

“This can’t be right,” she murmured to herself before speaking up to address Davies. “You said you already swapped out his equipment?”

“It was the first thing I did.”

He was evil, not incompetent.

“Well, clearly _something_ must have caused this. Would you collect a few more blood samples from Mr. Stark? I’d like to compare them to what we pulled when he first came in. If this weapon has caused some sort of mutation, we’ll need to be prepared to handle it. And monitor him closely in the meantime. I want to know immediately if he starts showing signs of burning through his medications faster than he should be. We can’t run the risk of this being some sort of knockoff super soldier serum that increases his metabolism to the point that he’s starving to death just laying in bed.”

Wasn’t that a lovely thought? If that was the case, maybe Davies could find a way to ensure it would work - a pinched IV or feeding tube could do the trick. He would have to keep an eye out for opportunities.

“I’ll take care of it,” he said with a chipper smile that dropped as soon as he turned to head back out of the lab. 

At the very least, he would enjoy getting to stab Stark with a few needles.

.

It was tempting to let an air pocket from the needle slip into Stark’s vein and get rid of him that way, but Davies was far too aware of how closely the Winter Soldier was watching to risk it. Barnes’s glare was like a laser beam, focussed on every move Davies made. He wouldn’t be able to get away with reversing the plunger as he drew Stark’s blood. 

Rogers’s concerned hovering was less attentive, but possibly even more annoying. His genuine, earnest worrying made Davies want to gag. Who even got so attached to people in their line of work? It was ridiculous.

The only upside was that Stark remained unconscious through the process, meaning Davies didn’t have to deal with the three of them flirting. He wasn’t sure he’d manage if he had to deal with _that._ Hydra didn’t pay him that well, even considering that he got to compound it with the salary from the Avengers Medical team. He would be very happy for Stark to stay unconscious all the way up until Davies finally managed to kill him.

“Do you know what sort of tests she wants to run?” Rogers asked as Davies pressed a cotton swab to Stark’s skin and withdrew the needle.

“Dr. Cho wants to check his blood against the samples from when he was first brought in to see if there are any noticeable changes. And I think she may compare it to yours and Sgt. Barnes’s.”

“Ours? Why?” Rogers asked, obviously confused. 

Of course he was. 

History might tout him as some incredible strategist, but Davies figured most of those battle plans were just passed down from Rogers’s superiors and anything past that was sheer dumb luck. He went into battle with a shield the size of a dinner plate, after all - it was a miracle no one had just shot him in the legs.

“There’s still a lot we don’t know about the device that did this,” Davies explained, making sure to use small words. “Given the quick healing, it’s possible that it’s something similar to the serum that you both have a version of. Dr. Cho may be able to find some clues by comparing your blood to his.”

Expression still pinched with worry, Rogers nodded along.

“Do you need new samples from us as well, then?”

Dr. Cho hadn’t suggested it, so she was probably planning to just use the samples they had on file, the ones only she could access for security purposes. Still, Hydra would love to get their hands on Rogers’s blood, and if a vial disappeared before reaching Dr. Cho… Well, no one would ever have to know. 

“A fresh sample would probably help, yeah,” Davies said, forcing a grateful smile onto his face. “Thanks for offering.”

It was a matter of just a few minutes to draw the blood from Rogers’s arm, and then he turned expectantly to the Barnes. It would be suspicious if he didn’t try to get samples from both of them - even if Hydra already had plenty of the Soldier’s blood tucked away somewhere - and he had to confess some amount of pleasure at once again subjecting the Winter Soldier to Hydra’s will.

There was a pregnant pause.

“C’mon, Buck… It’s for Tony…”

Steely blue eyes flickered to Rogers for a fraction of a second before his jaw clenched and he sat heavily in the chair Rogers had previously occupied.

It would be impossible to miss the tension that ran through his entire body. Not for the first time, Davies wondered if medical procedures reminded Barnes of his time as the Winter Soldier. He hoped so. 

“I’ll be as quick as I can,” he promised, despite wanting nothing more than to draw the experience out for as long as possible. 

.

Dr. Cho didn’t seem overly surprised that Barnes and Rogers had given fresh samples, but still accepted them gratefully. Davies left her to her examination, dropping by his locker long enough to secret away one of the vials of Rogers’s blood in a special cooling box he had hidden there before heading back to Stark’s room. He was supposed to be keeping a close eye on his vitals, after all. 

He didn’t know how he was going to put up with such extended exposure to the two super soldiers and their hovering, but at least it gave him a reason to be there. Maybe he could find a way to get them both out of the room so he could slip something to Stark to send him into a downward spiral. It would be easy to chock it up to the instability of some knock-off serum.

Rogers greeted him with a growing familiarity and warmth tinged by worry for his lover and Barnes kept up his cool hostility. It was obvious that Barnes didn’t want Davies there and saw the nurse as an interloper to their privacy - a fact that made Davies feel at least a bit better about having to put up with them. 

At least the irritation at his presence went both ways. 

He kept up a quiet stream of inane small-talk with Rogers, giving lip service to platitudes and comfort he didn’t feel. He felt like his brain was going to melt out of his ears from the boredom, but at least Rogers didn’t seem to notice. Stark didn’t wake up either, which was good. It would be a lot more difficult to kill off a conscious patient. 

Rogers left the room only a few times to fetch coffee or food for himself and Barnes - and Davies, too, because _of course_ he was just _so_ considerate like that. Barnes didn’t move an inch. The third time Rogers stood to run an errand - probably more to keep himself occupied than for any legitimate need - Davies stood with him and followed him into the hall.

“Captain Rogers,” Davies spoked in a hushed voice once he’d closed the door behind him, “I don’t mean to overstep my bounds here, but I’m concerned about Sgt. Barnes.”

If there was any tried and true way of getting to Rogers, it was through Barnes.

Just to prove the point, Rogers’s shoulders slumped down and he heaved a sigh.

“Me, too. I mean, I hate seeing Tony like this - I hate when either of them get hurt - but it hits Bucky differently. He internalizes it, takes it as a personal failing even when there’s nothing he could have done.”

Davies put on his best sympathetic look.

“Everyone deals with these things differently, but it’s not healthy for him to stay cooped up in that room.”

“I know… I just… I don’t think either of us wants to leave Tony alone right now.”

“That works out well, then! My shift lasts another three hours, and I’ll probably be pulling overtime to keep an eye on things anyway. I’ll be with Dr. Stark the whole time, if you two wanted to take the time to take care of each other for a bit. You both must be exhausted from the fight earlier, and you haven’t done more than washing your hands and splashing your face. Get a shower. Take a nap. _Change your clothes._ You’ll both feel better. Sitting here in full uniform, surrounded by the smell and feel of battle, it’s only going to be harder on you.”

The temptation was clear on Steve’s face, but so was the indecision. Davies just needed to tip the scales a little bit further…

“I promise you,” he said, crossing his fingers behind his back, “I won’t leave Dr. Stark’s side and I’ll let you know the moment anything changes.”

Steve blew out a heavy breath.

“I’ll talk to Bucky, but I don’t know that he’ll go for it. He isn’t great about putting his needs first.”

“Then let him put _your_ needs first,” Davies advised. “He may not be able to do anything for Dr. Stark right now, but he can for you. Remind him of that.”

.

It had taken some doing, but apparently Rogers was just as much Barnes’s weakness as the other way around and he’d eventually accompanied Rogers upstairs to clean up and change - though he’d insisted they could come back down and nap in the room with Stark. It was at least a small win. 

Unfortunately, it also meant Davies was left with a very small window in which to try something. Luckily, he was able to use giving them a moment of privacy before they left to duck out of the room and make another trip to his locker, grabbing what he needed and then stopping by the break room to pick up a coffee as cover. 

He couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he ran a thumb over the vial of Barnes’s blood in his pocket. Hydra may not have any use for his blood, but Davies could think of a rather good one.

Super soldier serum was known to have some nasty effects when injected, and it would be so poetic for Barnes to be the cause of Stark’s death. The Winter Soldier could do a clean sweep of wiping out the Stark bloodline.

.

Barnes and Rogers had returned and were sleeping when Davies’s com beeped with a summons from Dr. Cho. Barnes stirred, eyes flickering immediately to where each of his lovers slept before turning on Davies.

“That’s Dr. Cho,” he informed the soldier quietly as he stood. “Hopefully she has some new information. I’ll let you know anything I find out as soon as I get back.”

Barnes nodded, settling back down in his chair but not closing his eyes again. Davies left him to his self-imposed guard duty, hoping that the blood he had injected Stark with would soon begin reacting with his body and Barnes would be there to witness it. 

It was a bit worrisome that it hadn’t taken any effect _already_ , but there were so many unknowns when it came to the serum that he wasn’t too worried. Davies had read some of Zola’s reports from his original experiments back in WWII and there had been all sorts of reactions. With the exception of Rogers, Barnes, and Red Skull, they had all ended in death.

It would be _fine_.

Even a lucky bastard like Stark had to have his limits.

That cheery thought put a pep in Davies’s step as he swiped his access card and was allowed into the diagnostic lab. Dr. Cho stood at the end of a row of microscopes and looked up at the sound of his entry, a severe expression on her face.

“Davies, good. Thank you for coming so quickly. Have a look at this.”

He approached cautiously.

“What’s going on? Did you find something?”

“Have a look first. I want an unbiased opinion.”

Davies wasn’t sure if this was a good or a bad sign, but he was sure it was going to make his life harder, either way. 

He stepped up to the microscope and looked through it, the image blurring for a moment before clarifying. The sample was definitely blood, but there didn’t seem to be anything too unusual about it.

“I’m not sure I see anything.”

Dr. Cho nodded, clearly expecting this response.

“That’s a sample of Dr. Stark’s blood from about three months ago. Here’s one that you took earlier today.”

He moved to the telescope she indicated.

“There’s definitely more activity going on in this one… It doesn’t seem to be degraded in any way, though. That must be the healing factor, right? Were you able to find any traces of a serum?”

Dr. Cho shook her head, brow pinched.

“There weren’t any similarities that I could find that couldn’t be explained by perfectly normal reasons. I did, however, find some that matched another sample I’ve seen.”

Here, she gestured for Davies to look at a third microscope. Trepidation filled his chest, but he stepped forward anyway.

“This… is not normal blood. Is this even human?”

Dr. Cho made a so-so gesture with her hand.

“Not quite,” she admitted. “But a close relative, I think. Compare it with the others.”

It took several minutes, especially since diagnostics was not exactly Davies’s area of expertise, but he managed it.

“They all match,” he murmured, breathless with a feeling of both fear and anticipation that was too much of each to truly be either. “It’s clear how close the sample from today and this third sample are, but the traces are there even in the sample from three months ago.”

Stark gaining a healing factor was awful, but if Stark wasn’t _human_ , if there was some secret past no one knew anything about… Hydra could use that. Davies needed to gather all of the information he could.

“I’m just glad you see it, too,” Dr. Cho confided with clear relief. “I had half-convinced myself I was imagining things. I mean, this isn’t even something I thought _possible_ -”

“Dr. Cho,” he interrupted, unnerved by her enthusiasm, “who did the third sample come from? What _are_ they?”

Dr. Cho grinned widely.

“Thor. That sample is from Thor.”

A strangled, “ _What?”_ managed to find its way past Davies’s lips.

Fucking Thor. Indestructible, unkillable, _Thor_.

“The how is still unclear,” Dr. Cho went on, oblivious to Davies’s inner screeching. “My theory is that there may be a common ancestor between them. Knowing Thor and some of the stories he tells of previous visits, it might even be possible he _is_ the ancestor. Either the genes were dormant because they were diluted or Tony may even be a full aesir and there was something his personal ancestors did to hide their heritage here on Earth.”

Davies stopped listening after that, his brain falling into panic-inspired static.

How in the Hell was he supposed to explain this to his superiors?

.

Tony turned as the door to his room opened and a vaguely-familiar nurse entered.

“You must be Davies,” he greeted. “I hear you’ve been taking care of me while I was out of commission. How much can I offer you to give me the green light to blow this popsicle stand? Ten grand sound fair to you?”

“Tony!” Steve chided. “You’ve been awake for less than twenty minutes.”

“And you’re not going _anywhere_ until you get the all-clear from Dr. Cho herself, doll,” Bucky added.

Tony made a face.

“I’m awake, that should be enough to spring me. Besides, I feel fine!”

He really did, which was worrying all on its own. Tony felt better than he had in years and he could feel the paranoia crawling up his spine. He needed to get to his workshop _now_ so he could have JARVIS give him a full scan.

“About that…”

The timid words brought Tony’s attention back to the nurse hovering just inside his doorway. He looked a little shell shocked, but that wasn’t exactly unusual when Tony interacted with people who didn’t know him well. Still, there was a haunted look in his eye that made Tony uncomfortable. 

“What? What is that look for? I’m not about to suddenly drop dead, am I?”

Because if he made a joke out of it, it couldn’t possibly be true, right? Despite popular opinion, Tony was keenly aware of his mortality. He was the only one on the team who wasn’t enhanced or have a lifetime of special training. Given his… less than healthy habits in his early years, he was likely going to be the first to go on their little team - barring an accident in the field. He hated the thought of doing that to Steve and Bucky, especially since the serum guaranteed they would have a longer than natural life. 

Davies took a deep, shuddering breath as the tension in the room ratcheted higher.

“Dr. Stark,” he finally said, voice strained, “how do you feel about being a god?”


End file.
